how to gain muscles off season, but stay in a lean shape for bikini competitior

[anyastar]

Dear competitors, i need your help. i am off season now, trying to develop my upper body, gain as much muscles as possible. it's been to months so far, and its going great, but my abs are covered with fat and i don't look very lean. So my question is how to gain muscles, but stay in a lean ( photo shoot ready mode). If ill be doing cardio for 3 times a week (30 min sprint), will i still be able to develop my muscles and not to burn them away? and what diet would you recommend.
thank you

[tumtum]

simply comes from barely upping your cals..

reverse dieting is the most important part.. you've got to up your cals ever so slowly. should take you months to bring your cals up.. not weeks as some ppl think. if you aren't still somewhat suffering during your reverse you are probably going too fast.

[anyastar]

simply comes from barely upping your cals..

reverse dieting is the most important part.. you've got to up your cals ever so slowly. should take you months to bring your cals up.. not weeks as some ppl think. if you aren't still somewhat suffering during your reverse you are probably going too fast.

Thank you

It's so hard to find a balance. I guess I'll just keep clean diet, but add more cals to it

[tumtum]

it's hard.. i typically take about 2 months coming out of diet and i can limit the weight gain to about 6lbs.. and then the next 2 months i blow up.. i've never been disciplined enough to stay strict

[megdaig]

It's really not feasible to stay "photo shoot" ready if you're trying to gain muscle. But if you're only doing bikini and don't need much muscle you could reverse diet up to maintenance and hold there and try to recomp.

[kimm4]

It's so hard to find a balance. I guess I'll just keep clean diet, but add more cals to it

Keeping a clean diet doesn't mean anything. If you want to build muscle you need to increase calories enough to support growth. If you want to keep fat gains to a minimal, bring your calories slightly above maintenance. Adding muscle is a long process, especially when it comes to women.